


A Very Very Very Very Very Very Long Engagement

by flippyspoon



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, HFA, M/M, More Fluff, fluffffffffff, the tiniest bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22662313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippyspoon/pseuds/flippyspoon
Summary: Billy pops the question.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 21
Kudos: 333





	A Very Very Very Very Very Very Long Engagement

**Author's Note:**

> For HFA. FOR LISSIE KISSES LOVE YOU, BOO BOO :-*

Steve was on the phone when Billy finally got home to the apartment they shared in downtown Chicago. He was leaning on the kitchen counter, drawing idle shapes in the Formica and looking unhappy.

But he was faking a good mood for whoever he was talking to. Billy stared at him, curious, and hovered around him impatiently. They were supposed to go out to eat and he’d already come home late from work.

“No yeah, I’m super happy for ya, Nance,” Steve said. “Yeah, we’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it. Kay, bye. Congratulations.”

Steve hung up the phone and said, “Nancy and Jonathan are engaged.”

He said it as if Nancy had been diagnosed with a fatal illness.

“Oh!” Billy shifted from foot to foot, curious as to Steve’s melancholy and also half-starved. “Cool. There’s a party?”

“Yep. Next Saturday.”

“Alright…” Billy raised an eyebrow. “So why do you look like somebody died?”

“Nothing.” Steve sighed and stood up straight. “You wanna go get pizza?”

“Yeah…”

“Let’s go.”

The pizza joint was Nick’s and it was six blocks away. It was windy and brusque outside and Billy shoved his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket as he walked beside Steve who glared down at the ground.

“Steve?” Billy said. “Seriously, what’s with you?”

“Nothing,” Steve muttered.

At least he was easy to read, Billy thought.

“Jesus,” Billy said with a snort. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”

“Maybe I am.” Steve kicked an acorn into a gutter and shivered and Billy squinted at him, baffled. Old insecurities long resolved came creeping back in again and his ears perked up. He felt a little sick. 

“What do you mean?” Billy said darkly. “You’re _jealous_?”

“Can’t I be jealous?” 

Billy swallowed and felt as if his life was flashing before his eyes, but he somehow kept walking at a rapid pace, shoving his way through clusters of passersby on the sidewalk until they arrived at the hole-in-the-wall with the best pizza in the neighborhood. Inside it was warm, but there was a line at the counter. He followed Steve and stood next to him, his shoulders hunched up around his ears.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Steve?” Billy said sharply. “It’s been like five years-”

“Huh?” Steve gaped at him, confused. “Oh! Pfft… I’m not jealous over _Nancy_. For Christ’s sake, Billy…”

“Oh.” Billy felt chastened and stupid. He tossed Steve a nod. “What’re you talking about then?”

“I’m jealous of _them_ ,” Steve hissed.

It was their turn at the counter and Billy contemplated exactly what Steve might be jealous of as Steve made their regular order of a spicy sausage special with olives.

They found an empty booth by the window and Billy didn’t hesitate to sit on Steve’s side, squished up against him. “What do you mean?” Billy said. “Jealous of what though?”

“If you don’t know then maybe I shouldn’t say,” Steve said wryly. He leaned on his hand, staring out the window.

“Oh my _God_. That is so-”

“That they’re getting _married_ , dummy,” Steve said, throwing up his hands. “That’s what I’m jealous of.”

“Oh.” That felt worse somehow. He couldn’t _do_ anything about that. “I mean… My apologies. Sorry about society and all.” Heat rose in his cheeks. He was pissed and he wasn’t sure at who exactly, but he was partly pissed at Steve. “So so sorry I couldn’t be a chick so you could-”

“ _Billy_.” Steve slapped his hand over Billy’s and squeezed it. He met Billy’s gaze steadily. “I haven’t wanted to be with anyone other than you in four years. I am not going anywhere. Not ever. You’re stuck with me. That’s not what I mean. It just kinda bums me out sometimes.”

“But you’re saying…” Billy looked down at their hands and turned his over so he could tangle his fingers with Steve’s. “Like are you saying you’d want to marry me? If you could?”

In four years, Billy had not thought of marriage between him and Steve once. It wasn’t an option, so why entertain the thought?

But then he saw Steve get that soft, sweet expression on his face. The Puppy Look, Billy called it.

“Billy,” Steve whispered. “I wanted to marry you on the third date. I’ve wanted to marry you every day since. Even when you got wasted and streaked our building and we almost got evicted. For better or worse, sickness and in health, clothed and naked.”

“Preferably naked,” Billy said, flicking out his tongue.

He was acting cavalier, but even now tears pricked Billy’s eyes and he cleared his throat. 

“Well, that’s…” He brought Steve’s hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles. “Good to know, babe.”

“Yeah.” Steve shrugged. “Oh well.”

This sucked, Billy decided.

He was moved, feeling especially squishy and affectionate. But Steve looked sad and when Steve was sad, Billy got edgy and restless until he could do something about it.

But he was stumped and then their pizza came and they dug in, silently scarfing up the slices as if it was a contest. 

There were a couple of gumball machines in the corner at Nick’s and a little kid was slipping a quarter into one of them and fishing out the prize from the dispenser. The gumball machines gave out knick-knacks and one gave out something that made Billy smirk around his pizza. 

He wiped his greasy lips with a napkin and said, “You got any quarters?”

Steve gave him a pile of quarters without asking what they were for, which only proved how dark his mood was. Billy took the quarters and knelt in front of the second gumball machine, his tongue between his lips. It took him three tries before he got the prize he wanted and he grinned with a sense of triumph as he returned to the booth.  
“What’s that for?” Steve said, nodding at the little plastic containers.

“I’ll tell ya…” Billy pulled open the prize that contained a kid’s size orange ring with a clown face on it. Then he got to his feet, cleared his throat, and got down on one knee in the middle of Nick’s Pizza.

“Holy shit,” Steve said. “What’re you doing?”

Everyone was watching. Billy heard some grumbling and then a girl said, “SSSHHH.”

Then a hush fell over Nick’s Pizza.

“Steve,” Billy said, holding up a plastic ring with a clown’s face on it. “If I had… Hell, if I had a thousand years to tell you how much you mean to me? Man, I still wouldn’t know where to start. You’re everything-”

“Billy-”

“Shut up, shut up,” Billy said quickly. He was feeling the pangs of embarrassment, all eyes on him as he poured out his heart to the love of his life. He ran a hand through his curls that fell past his shoulders. “I can’t give you a marriage certificate and nobody would marry us. But I’d marry you in a heartbeat. I’d marry you a hundred times and I’d even wear a monkey suit to fuckin’ do it and I’d invite every asshole I’ve ever met to come watch because I’d be so proud. And maybe someday, we will. Because I don’t know shit, but I do know that anything is possible. Because I was supposed to die and instead I lived and you fell in love with me. Goddamn miracle, baby. And if that can happen, maybe sometime we can get married. So I guess I’m asking, will you marry me? Someday? _When_ that does happen?”

“I will.”

Steve was beaming at him. 

The two of them stood at an altar at St. Augustin By the Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, California.

There were palm trees swaying in the breeze outside. Billy could see them over Steve’s shoulder through the yellow stained glass.

It was 2013 and Billy felt nervous somehow, which was strange really since he had been with Steve for nearly thirty years.

Steve had gray in his hair, but it was as thick and lustrous as ever.

He had lines around his mouth from laughing and smiling at the man he’d fallen in love with twenty-eight years ago.

His brown eyes were still bright; warm and kind and always looking right at Billy when he walked into a room.

Steve had creaky knees and he was cranky in the mornings and after all this time together, they still fought over the blankets and yelled about whose turn it was to load the dishwasher and sometimes they drove each other absolutely crazy and half the time that _still_ led to some pretty wild sex.

And Billy loved nobody in the world more than Steve Harrington.

He was supposed to be paying attention, Billy thought. But the minister’s words were gibberish to his ears. He couldn’t stop staring at Steve, trying to figure out how somebody could fascinate him for so long.

And then it was over.

“You may kiss the-”

Billy winked and grabbed Steve around the waist, dipping him backward, clutching the perfectly tailored designer tuxedo jacket in his fist, even though his back was dicey sometimes and he couldn’t lift like he used to. Steve chuckled, smiling against his lips, throwing his arms around Billy’s neck, and somewhere everyone was cheering and hooting but everything blurred around Billy…

There was only Steve.


End file.
